Ilves to chair Cyber Security Council in Dubai

President Ilves is flying to Dubai today to chair the meeting of the Cyber Security Council at the World Economic Forum. Ilves assumed the helm of the Council this year, at the request of the World Economic Forum.

The Network of Global Agenda Councils was established by the World Economic Forum in 2008, and 80 councils belong to the network. The annual meeting focuses on global issues.

Each council consists of 15-20 globally recognized experts from the private and public sectors, who exchange ideas on the global and regional issues that require the most attention. The aim is to integrate different visions into international co-operation and decision-making processes.

Once a year, all the councils meet in Dubai. The Estonian Head of State chairs the cyber security council.

President Ilves will also take part in a public discussion that focuses on the future of Internet and will meet with leaders of different countries.

Seen from Tallinn, the migration crisis is mainly a crisis in Brussels. But the volatility of the flow of refugees combined with the diversity of the positions of the EU member states makes the crisis particularly hard to solve, finds Estonia’s permanent representative in Brussels, Matti Maasikas.

Estonia will contribute a total of €4.1m to international relief efforts in Syria and the neighbouring countries over the next two years. Of these funds, €2.8m will go to the EU’s trust fund for the support of Turkey.

Let's Do It! movement that began in Estonia in 2008 and has since organized campaigns in 112 countries, involving 14,5 million people, has announced it will hold a worldwide cleanup day on September 8, 2018.

On Tuesday the European Commission presented its new agreement over data sharing with the United States. The EU-US Privacy Shield will replace the Safe Harbor Principles, which were declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, and has already provoked heavy criticism.

Legal advisers from all continents convene in The Hague this week to discuss how peacetime international law applies in cyberspace. The Tallinn Manual 2.0 consultations will bring together over 50 states.

Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, said yesterday that Russia continued to wage a hybrid war not only against Ukraine, but also against the European Union.

At his meeting with Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev Tuesday, Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas said that rumours of Russia's more constructive approach towards Ukraine are severely exaggerated, as Russia has unfortunately taken no real direct steps towards a restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Estonia should wait until the Russian Duma adds the ratification of the Estonian-Russian border treaty to its agenda, Estonian Ambassador to Moscow Arti Hilpus said at a meeting with the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Last year, in 2015, we saw Putin move into Syria, basically bombing his way to the negotiating table by simply unilaterally going in," Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in an interview to Euronews.

Estonia does not support changing the European Union's Dublin system, according to which the state which the asylum seeker enters first has to process the application, the Ministry of the Interior said.

The families of 14 Estonian men who were working on an anti-piracy ship and have been charged for illegal activity in Indian territorial waters are reaching out for what it seems to them last chance of hope: a call for help to Estonian PM Taavi Rõivas and president Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

Russia is keeping an eye on refugees arriving in Europe, including in Latvia and Estonia, as mass migration can pose a threat to Russians living or working abroad, says Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry.

Ahead of a decision by the European Commission on visa requirements for Ukraine and Georgia, Estonian Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand said Ukraine has not filled all technical requirements but Georgia may expect a positive outcome.

The Parliament's National Defense Committee Chairman Marko Mihkelson said Russian President Vladimir Putin's message to the West, at his annual state of the nation address, was that he will not take a step back in the confrontation with the West.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves emphasized in his lecture at the Institute for Strategic Studies in London to commemorate Alastair Buchan that Europe is standing on the crossroads of change and faces new external and internal threats, particularly following the tragic events that took place in Paris.

Russia's plan to extend its gas link Nord Stream that helps to bypass traditional transit routes through Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, is not in EU's interests, 10 European nations, Estonia among them, said in a letter to the European Commission.